Ben Small
Benjamin "Ben" Small (born 1971) is a British actor descending from Canadian stock, who provided voices for the UK and US versions of Thomas & Friends until the end of the eighteenth season in 2015, when his contract with HiT Entertainment was not renewed and the executives wanted to look for a fresh new voice for Thomas, with John Hasler taking over in 2015, who also takes over to play Rheneas. Rob Rackstraw took over the role of Toby in the UK, Flynn for both the UK and US, and Stanley in the US. Christopher Raglandtook over the role of the Troublesome Trucks in both the UK and US. Other credits include, "Lunar Jim", "Harry and his Bucket Full of Dinosaurs", "Clifford the Big Red Dog", "Watch My Chops", "Make Way for Noddy", and "Wallace and Gromit's Cracking Contraptions". Voices UK * Thomas (Hero of the Rails - eighteenth season) * Toby (Hero of the Rails - eighteenth season) * Ferdinand (Misty Island Rescue - sixteenth season) US * Stanley (fifteenth season - eighteenth season) * Charlie (sixteenth season - eighteenth season) UK/US * Rheneas (Blue Mountain Mystery - eighteenth season) * Flynn (seventeenth season only) * Troublesome Trucks (sixteenth season - eighteenth season) * Owen (Blue Mountain Mystery - eighteenth season) Songs * I Do Like to Be Beside the Seaside (performed) * Never, Never, Never Give Up Filmography Film * Skegs & Skangers (2002) * The Haunted Pumpkin of Sleepy Hollow (2003) * The Prince and the Pauper: Double Trouble (2007) * Alice in Wonderland: What's the Matter with Hatter? (2007) * Zorro and Scarlet Whip Revealed! (2010) Television * Clifford the Big Red Dog (2000-2003) * Xcalibur (2001) * Watch My Chops (2003) * Zorro: Generation Z - The Animated Series (2008) * Thomas & Friends (2009-2015) * Pet Squad (2011) * Matt Hatter Chronicles (2012) Trivia * He also narrated the UK verisons of the Guess Who? Puzzles between the thirteenth and sixteenth seasons. * He also sings the song, The Wheels on Thomas, which can only be heard at Day Out with Thomas events in the UK. * HiT Entertainment wanted him to concentrate on Thomas alone, but it was later decided that he could also voice Toby if he wished to do so. This then snowballed because HiT wanted to have the same voices for some characters in both the UK and US versions. * Both he and Jules de Jongh voiced characters from "The Haunted Pumpkin of Sleepy Hollow". * Small said in an interview with the Sodor Island Fansite that he was a fan of the Railway Series in his youth. He said that he listened to the Johnny Morris recordings as a child. * Small and Keith Wickham previously worked together on the French television series, "Watch My Chops" (aka "Corneil & Bernie"). Wickham voiced Corneil the dog and Small voiced Bernie, his dogsitter in the English version. * Both he and Susan Roman worked on "Harry and His Bucket Full of Dinosaurs". * He originally auditioned for the part of Thomas in the US version, but did not get the part. * He, alongside Salty's Lighthouse voice actors Ian James Corlett and Michael Donovan, voiced characters on "Make Way for Noddy". Category:Voice Actors Category:People Category:Production crew Category:Musicians Category:English Voice Cast Category:Narrators